The San Francisco 49ers and quarterback Brock Purdy continued their regular-season roll in the playoffs by beating the Seattle Seahawks 41-23 in an NFC Super Wild-Card Weekend game on Saturday.
The 49ers won their 11th game in a row and their sixth straight with Purdy at quarterback. The final selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, Purdy entered the lineup after Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo got hurt, and he threw for 332 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday. Purdy has 14 TD passes and two interceptions in his six starts.
· MIAMI ELEVATES FORMER ALABAMA GUARD FOR PLAYOFF GAME
· CAN DOLPHINS DUO DELIVER PLAYOFF UPSET WITHOUT TUA TAGOVAILOA?
· POSTSEASON WEEK 1: SEC PROGRAMS DOMINATE ROSTERS
San Francisco trailed by one point at halftime, then scored the first 25 points of the second half. After playing the first half without a turnover or a penalty, Seattle lost two turnovers and had five penalties in the second half.
On the 49ers’ first possession of the second half, Seattle safety Jonathan Abrams appeared to twist San Francisco wide receiver Deebo Samuel’s ankle on a tackle, sparking a brief dustup on the field.
“I stayed down a little because I almost lost my temper,” Samuel said. “And you could see the definition of our team of IGYB – I got your back. … I feel like that turned our team up a notch, and as you can see, which just went out there and made plays.
“It hurt for sure, but in my mind I was about to lose it. But I just kept calm, and, you know, just seeing how (coach) Kyle (Shanahan) came off the sideline is a true definition of our team.”
The 49ers had eight plays that gained at least 21 yards, including a 74-yard touchdown connection between Purdy and Samuel and a 68-yard run by running back Christian McCaffrey.
Samuel had six receptions for 133 yards and one touchdown. McCaffrey ran for 119 yards on 15 carries and caught a touchdown pass.
Four players from Alabama high schools and colleges got on the field during the Seattle-San Francisco game:
· Mike Jackson (Spain Park) started at left cornerback for the Seahawks. Jackson made five tackles and broke up one pass.
· Forty-Niners cornerback Jackrabbit Jenkins (North Alabama) made one tackle on defense and one tackle on special teams. San Francisco elevated Jenkins from its practice squad to make him eligible to play.
· Forty-Niners tight end Jordan Matthews (Madison Academy) is on injured reserve and not eligible to play.
· Seahawks long snapper Carson Tinker (Alabama) handled the snaps on four punts, two extra points and one field goal.
· Forty-Niners defensive back Jimmie Ward (Davidson) made two tackles. Ward got an unnecessary-roughness penalty for a hit on Seattle quarterback Geno Smith with one second left in the first half, which gave Jason Myers the opportunity to hit a 56-yard field goal that gave the Seahawks a 17-16 lead.
San Francisco also defeated Seattle twice during the regular season – 27-7 on Sept. 18 and 21-13 on Dec. 15.
Seattle had squeezed into the NFC playoffs as the No. 7 seed with a 9-8 record after a 19-16 overtime victory against the Los Angeles Rams in the regular-season finale.
San Francisco’s next opponent will be decided in the other two Super Wild-Card Weekend games in the NFC. The No. 6 New York Giants and No. 3 Minnesota Vikings square off at 3:30 p.m. CST Sunday, and the No. 5 Dallas Cowboys and the No. 4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers meet at 7:15 p.m. Monday.
As the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoff field, San Francisco will play the best remaining seed in the Divisional Round from those games. As the No. 1 seed, the Philadelphia Eagles got a bye through the first round and will play the worst remaining seed next weekend.
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
